Article: Things Jetstar Does & Doesn’t Do Well

[AFF Editor]

Canonical URL

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/things-jetstar-does-well/

Things Jetstar Does & Doesn’t Do Well is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

Things Jetstar Does & Doesn't Do Well

Is Jetstar a good airline? In this opinion piece, we highlight 9 things the Australian budget airline does well - and 9 things it doesn't.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[kpc]

Sums up my experience with J*. I like the cheap airfares eg Syd-Lst rtn for ~ $100 when on sale. I usually travel HLO and weigh my carryon to make sure it is 7kg or less. I wear my heavy jacket, with powerbanks etc in its pockets

SYD-Sgn in J (OK premium economy) which I have done twice now can be quite cheap and is a pleasant day time flight....and I get to fill up at the Syd F lounge prior

 

[Pushka]

The Day flight back from Bali direct to Adelaide. All Y. Mostly oldies who don't want an overnight flight. Excellent.

 

[Mwenenzi]

Things Jetstar Does & Doesn’t Do Well​

21 January, 2026 Written by Matt Graham

Recycling an old article or MattG still on the payroll for a few articles? Or MattG getting $$$ for reruns?

Qantas won’t let you choose the front row unless you have a high status tier (until T-80, anyway),

T-80 or T-24 now for QF?

 

[dajop]

I don't fly Jetstar much domestically, but occasionally experiment with JQ's 787 service to Singapore. I therefore would mainly compare them to Scoot, which comes with its own sets of pro's and con's, and maybe the comparison is for another thread as they both have their strengths and weaknesses.

As a whole though on this route, probably the two things that put me off the most (apart from overnight flight in one direction and unreliability) are :
- Hand luggage constraint. (10kg on Scoot). I'd prefer it JQ allowed a laptop in addition to the 7kg (even for a modest fee).
- Hot meals for this long sector. The variety and perhaps even the quality aren't of the the Scoot standard (which in itself isn't terrific quality) - Jetstar has 2 (main) low protein meal choices in both directions (lasagna which is mainly sauce and noodles), Scoot has 9 choices ex-SIN and 6 ex-MEL.

 

[aikman]

Jetstar has 2 (main) low protein meal choices in both directions

The pie/sausage roll duo and the ham cheese toastie are both hot.

 

[dajop]

The pie/sausage roll duo and the ham cheese toastie are both hot.

Yeh but they're barely what I'd call "main" choices, they're more hot snacks. Scoot has additional similar hot snacks as well (although not pie/sausage roll, it does have toasted foccacia and even an all day breakfast ex-SIN). Simply has more variety than Jetstar what ever way you look at it.

 

[BNEFlyer]

I've flown JQ twice, once in 2013 when they introduced the 787 I flew in J from OOL-MEL (don't remember much) and again on NYE last year from AKL-CHC. That was a very seamless and pleasant experience.

Sat in row 2 with oodles of legroom. Somehow had a $10 voucher and a hot drink & cake included in my fare. Bought extra luggage so had 40kg to play with. Hand luggage wasn't weighed. Flight was on time; plane was clean and every JQ staff member I interacted with were absolutely delightful and couldn't be more helpful (not sure if this is a JQ thing or a New Zealand thing).

 

[ksthommo]

Enforcing no hot drinks to bring onboard.
Guessing money making venture, buy onboard.

Weighing everyone’s hand luggage at 5:30am is fun also.

 

[eastwest101]

A balanced and fair assesment although one thing I would add is that over the years Jetstar have fiddled with their bundles and what is offered in them but they still have cunningly designed their add-on bundles so that you can never quite customize or get what you want, without something else bundled in that you don't want or need, if they simply 'unbundled' everything and let the customer decide what they want, it would be a much better experience in my opinion.

Good point about the JQ B787 fleet on-time performance (not that the Qantas mainline A330 and A380 fleet are covering themselves in glory either), the international part of the business is really for people who aren't on tight schedules and don't mind getting to their destinations in timeframes of +/- 1 day, and with the cost and inconvenience of rebooking non-protected further onward flights, accommodation, and/or cruises or other holiday stuff it still really is a bit of a lottery or a "are you feeling lucky?" travel experience.